Stand Up to Evil, Don’t let it Win By Default.
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Didn’t we all learn that phrase in grade school? Didn’t Europe learn that on September 30, 1938 in Munich when they appeased Hitler and handed him Czechoslovakia? Compromise, appeasement, and acceptance of injustice as being “just the way things are” can be a slippery slope. If we slide too far we may never be able to climb back into the light.
My latest novella BRAT is a great story filled with all the things one would expect from the FBoM universe. There is political intrigue, mob bosses, bloodshed, sex, and sexual depravity but that’s just the wrapper for the true story that lies beneath. The real story is something every single person on the planet can identify with: the slippery slope of apathy.
There is a famous saying by Edmund Burke, one that seems to be re-entering the global consciousness of late, that goes like this, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” How many of us fall into that trap in our daily lives? I admit it, I turn a blind-eye far more frequently than I should, normally with the phrase, “there’s nothing I can do about that,” or worse, “it’s not my problem.” If nothing else, that should tell you I’m not judging. I get it. I’m guilty of the same behavior.
In our daily lives we all come across situations, be they big or small, that we could step in and say, “That’s wrong and I’m not going to let it happen,” but we don’t because it would cause waves, or possibly make us pariah amongst our friends or associates. It’s a risk, an unpleasant fear, but perhaps it is time for more of us to take a stand. Had more people (male and female alike) taken a stand, not turned the other cheek, the #metoo movement wouldn’t have been necessary. In many of the cases, the behavior of those men were well known and swept under the carpet. Why? Because people were afraid to be ostracized, singled-out as a troublemaker, or worse: indifferent towards the discomfort and danger of others.
How many victims of drunk driving accidents could have been avoided if “friends” just would have said, “You’re not driving in that condition,” over the years? Nobody wants to risk losing a friendship, or getting an argument, with someone we care about but at what cost? Your friend might have driven drunk a thousand times in your relationship without ever having a problem, but it only takes one mistake for the lives of everyone involved to be changed forever.
How many times, as parents, have we witnessed a bully in a playground, or at school, and simply removed our own child from the situation? It’s easier to simply protect our own kid from possible conflict and tell ourselves, “It’s not my problem. I don’t have the right to correct someone else’s kids behavior.”
How often have we heard a racist, sexist, or homophobic comment, or joke, and let it pass only to walk away and say to ourselves later, “That guy was a jerk, I’d never say anything like that.”
More likely it’s the small things in life, things we see as unimportant, that lets evil flourish. How often do we say things like this to ourselves?
- “I know my bank has done awful, possibly illegal, things and I feel bad for the people affected but changing banks is such a pain in the neck”
- “That retailer has put every small competitor out of business in the last few years, but their prices are good and going to a different store isn’t convenient.”·
- “I know that clothing/shoe/technology company runs sweat-shops overseas, but I want their product because it’s cool.”
- “That food manufacturing company is doing unethical things in the search for greater profit, and higher yields, but organic food costs ten-percent more and I don’t want to pay for it.”
- “I can’t believe how bad our government is, but I don’t have time to vote nor do I believe my vote matters.”
The opportunities to take a stand and confront “evil” are endless in all of our lives and not doing so creates the slippery slope that the main character, Bradley, in the novella BRAT faces. He’s a good man. He wants to do what’s right for the world but finds himself compromising, turning a blind-eye, making excuses for his actions in the belief he’s doing the “right thing” and frequently justifying it with the excuse, “I had no choice.”
Take a plunge into the world of FBoM with a character we can all identify with. At what point does the slippery slope come up against a brick wall that we simply can’t get past, forcing us to turn around and attempt to climb back into the light? Where do any of us draw a line and say, “Enough is enough, I’m no longer going to let evil triumph.”